Metropolitan Theatre
9 Chestnut Street,
Providence,
RI
02903
9 Chestnut Street,
Providence,
RI
02903
1 person
favorited this theater
The second largest movie palace in Rhode Island after Loew’s State Theatre was up the block from that theatre, which is now the Providence Performing Arts Center. At the corner of Broad Street and Chestnut Street, the Metropolitan Theatre opened in August 1932, and was the only theatre in the city with two entrances. Never as successful in its programs as its main rivals, Loew’s State Theatre, the Majestic Theatre, the Strand Theatre or the RKO Albee Theatre, it closed in 1955 and was demolished in 1961.
Today the location is occupied by an apartment complex, Beneficent House.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Recent comments (view all 49 comments)
The Moon is Blue, film and play.
From Boxoffice, April 24, 1954:
“The Metropolitan, closed more often than open, and which after several months darkness opened for a two-week engagement of "The Moon is Blue,” will give the Broadway verson of “The Moon is Blue” for three days, April 29-May 1, with the orginal New York cast. Because considerable controversy was caused when the motion picture was originally scheduled, and because the Met opened only long enough to present this single attraction, despite a storm of protests, many local theatregoers are cogitating over the motives behind the situation."
[Note: The film had been denied a Hays code seal of approval and was opposed by the Catholic Legion of Decency for the use of the terms “seduction” and “virgin” in the movie. The Diocese of Providence, with its chancery office located only yards away from this theatre, was aggressive in its disapproval of the showing of Otto Preminger’s delightful comedy, which starred Maggie McNamara, David Niven, and William Holden.]
Off topic,I guess.I think there is a MASH TV episode where HawKeye and BJ try to get a copy of “THE MOON IS BLUE”.
Interesting. That movie today would get a PG rating. I remember the huge ads for it in the Providence Journal when it was shown here as well as all the hullabaloo. I was just a kid. I didn’t manage to see it until years later. Netflix doesn’t seem to carry it, but it is available through eBay.
An item on the razing of the Metropolitan Theatre appeared in Boxoffce Magazine, October 30, 1961:
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(Click and expand to read better. Column 3)
Heifetz at the Metropolitan Theatre. Item in Boxoffice magazine, February 21, 1953:
The Metropolitan interrupted “Treasure of the Golden Condor” for a one-night appearance of violinist (Jascha) Heifetz.
“Testimony on Providence Metropolitan is Taken"
Boxoffice magazine on June 10, 1939 ran this long piece on the Metropolitan Theatre, dealing with an anti-trust suit in film bookings, and preference shown to the nearby Bijou in the supplying of films by distributors.
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Record Roundup Propgram is a Hit In Providence
Item on the Metropolitan Theatre, Boxoffice magazine, November 3, 1945:
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Report on the opening of Conn’s Metropolitan Theatre on August 25, 1932 at 10 a.m., in Boxoffice magazine, September 1, 1932:
http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/090132/3
Three months later Conn filed for bankruptcy. Item in Boxoffice magazine, November 3, 1932:
http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/110332/3
Opening day ad for the Metropolitan, August 25, 1932.
NEWSPAPER AD